Conventionally, a navigation apparatus which is mounted in a vehicle is known. In such a navigation apparatus, a map information processing apparatus displays a map on a display based on map information prestored therein. The driver can certainly arrive at the destination in a short time without getting lost since he or she can drive the vehicle while checking the current position of the vehicle by seeing the map displayed on the display.
By the way, such a navigation apparatus which detects a new road from a travel history when a vehicle in which the navigation apparatus is mounted has traveled a road which does not exist in map information stored therein, and which adds the new road to the map information stored therein is known (for example, refer to patent reference 1). When detecting a new road which is not included in the map information based on a route traveled by the vehicle, this navigation apparatus generates update information including a traveled path corresponding to the new road, adds it to the existing road information, and also links the start and end points of the detected new road to the existing map information.
Patent reference 1: JP,2002-243469,A
However, while the technology disclosed by above-mentioned patent reference 1 makes it possible to link the start and end points of a newly-detected road to existing roads, it cannot handle intersections at which the newly-detected road crosses existing roads, other than the start and end points, and hence cannot update the map information so that the map information includes information about intersections at which the newly-detected road crosses existing roads, other than the start and end points of the newly-detected road. Therefore, a problem with the related art technology is that route searching and route guidance which conform to actual road configurations cannot be carried out.
The present invention is made in order to solve the above-mentioned problem, and it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a map information processing apparatus that can carry out route searching and route guidance which conform to actual road configurations.